Editorial: Response responsibility

When university administrators set up a website for suggestions on how to handle round after round of budget cuts, they weren't being especially creative. The budget cut suggestion box has become a common occurrence in a period of economic gloom and doom. Gov. Martin O'Malley had such a website set up not long ago to elicit suggestions to balance the state's budget. The president of Cornell University proudly noted that an electronic suggestion box had quickly garnered more than 500 suggestions. This is an instance where administrators don't have to be original to be effective, and the establishment of a budget suggestion box for the university could play a significant role in what affects funding shortages have on its future.

The first purpose of the suggestion box is to bring recommendations to administrators. Submissions to the website are viewable online, and some of the suggestions made thus far are both creative and compelling. For example, Anne Turkos, a university archivist, recommends shutting down the escalators in Hornbake library in order to eliminate maintenance costs, because Hornbake now houses special collections and no longer experiences the sort of heavy traffic that merits escalators. This is the sort of suggestion that might offer substantial savings without degrading the quality of the university, and in a way that top-level administrators are unlikely to think of on their own.

Of course, not every suggestion is going to be compelling. Many are far too general to be useful; "Get rid of all the 'dead weight' on campus," wrote one contributor. Some suggestions simply don't make sense as cost-reduction measures; "Increase salaries to employees in Health Center," advises one user. However, even if the website became nothing but a digital bucket of bad ideas, it serves a critical second purpose: It enables administrators to act as community leaders in tough times, rather than as distant magistrates handing down pink slips.

A quick survey of the suggestions made makes it clear individuals invested in the fate of the university are willing to make sacrifices for the good of the institution. There are multiple suggestions of further unpaid furloughs and benefit reductions; one user announces that if the university implements a way to make a charitable donation from each paycheck directly to the university, the user will donate 10 percent of his or her salary for the coming year.

We're happy to see that university administrators seem to understand that a community more readily accepts tough budgetary decisions if every member has had a chance to provide his or her input. In an interview with The Diamondback, university President Dan Mote said there will be a series of University Senate forums at which anyone can have his or her opinion on the budget heard.

But to truly succeed, administrators will have to do more than make the appearance of listening. Administrators will have to demonstrate that suggestions have been considered carefully, and considered seriously. The ultimate demonstration that suggestions have been so considered is if they are implemented in final budget proposals, but there is an important intermediate step administrators should take. On the University of New Mexico website, questions and suggestions about the budget are posted alongside official responses. Dozens of the posts on this university's website make the same suggestions or ask the same questions. Why aren't thermostats more closely regulated? Why are lights left on at night? Could the university shift to a four-day workweek? Posting answers to these common questions will assure people that they are being listened to, which is the most important factor in ensuring that members of the university community will continue to show up for future conversations.